The impacts of combination of AcEW and AlEW on the microbes of inoculated cilantro samples were evaluated microscopically by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the results were shown in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 2a, a large amount of bacteria existed on the surface of the cilantro samples treated by TW. There were still plentiful bacterial populations on the AlEW-treated cilantro surfaces (Fig. 2b), which demonstrated that AlEW treatment could not kill the microbes effectively. From Fig. 2c and d, we can still see some inoculated flora adhered to the surfaces of AcEW-treated and SAEW-treated cilantro, but the populations has been lowered significantly in comparisons with TW treatment. In agreement with our above results, little microbial population was found on the surfaces of inoculated fresh-cut cilantro treated by all the combination of AlEW and AcEW (Fig. 2e–g). In general, the graphs obtained from SEM demonstrated our above results.